Forum A+P 08

PRAS Tecnica Edilizia SRL.ppt
GROUND FLOOR
From a functional viewpoint, the project provides for a central
entrance hall serving both the theater as well as the Visual
Arts Center. This hall will be outitted with general services
such as the reception area, ticket counter, information desk
and coatroom, and can easily be organized to serve both
functions.
The exhibition area will also have a second entrance
at the rear of the building, communicating with the stairs
and elevator of the mediathèque and ofices in order to
permit the use of the Visual Arts Center in a manner that is
completely independent from the theater, if necessary.
The theater will be designed so as to provide, with just a few
adjustments to the auditorium, different stage organizations
with respect to its traditional layout with a proscenium at the
back wall, stalls and balcony seating, thus allowing a more
modern coniguration as a total theater, with a central stage
and spectators on the two sides.
The area dedicated to the spectators behind the stage
in the central stage coniguration can also be used
for a chorus or orchestra, where appropriate, located
behind the actors, in combination with the traditional
auditorium.
The theater will have the necessary spaces to ensure the
smooth and secure movement (changing) of the scenes
and the simplest management of the stage lighting, with
stage lighting towers and upper and lower technical lighting
for the proscenium.
The auditorium will have four emergency exits, two of which
will be near the stage towards the lower level.
LEVEL -1:
The central area, which is dificult to use due to the lack of
natural lighting, will be used as a storage area under the
theater’s auditorium. Located at the side of the principal
entrance and accessible from the upper hall by stairs and
elevators will be a bar-cafeteria that is open to the outside
area in order to permit a use that is independent even from
that of the theater and the Visual Arts Center.
A conference room with seating for a maximum of
200 people, bathrooms, and space for the Center’s
management, will also be located along this side of the
building.
The various areas will have natural lighting, and the
surrounding ground level will be lowered in order to allow
for the placement of large windows to be opened.
The laboratories and service entrances for both the theater
and the Visual Arts Center will be located on the left side
of the building. The proximity between these two functions
will ensure the possibility of an operational and creative
collaboration between the studios connected with the visual
arts and those dealing with the preparation of theatrical
stage designs. This will guarantee that both functions will
achieve their highest potential of artistic expression.
The remaining part of the basement will be reserved for
the actors and the theater’s management, with bathrooms,
private dressing rooms, make-up rooms, a dress-making
area, dressing areas and anything else required for the
optimal operation of the theatrical activity.
FIRST FLOOR AND UPPER LEVELS:
The upper loors will be available for ofices, training,
and supporting activities for the theater and Visual Arts
Center, with direct access from the existing stairs located
at the back of the building, which will also be served by a
secondary entrance hall and by new elevator groups.
TECHNICAL CONTENTS
From a technical viewpoint the project’s objective is to
reutilize the existing structure as rationally as possible,
eliminating the technological and architectural elements
that are most greatly exposed to deterioration and creating
a building capable of guaranteeing durability with reduced
maintenance costs. In view of reducing energy consumption,
the project improves the insulating characteristics of the
roofs, limits direct solar exposure of glazed areas and uses
speciic installation features aimed at cutting the building’s
electrical and thermal consumption.
Speciically, the proposed architectural solution provides
for the complete elimination of the current inclined glazing
that are directly exposed to the sun and rain, which
represent (regardless of the technical solution proposed
for the ixtures) an extremely critical point both in terms
of protection from water iniltrations as well as in terms of
maintenance and solar heat load.
The “cuts” to be made to the inclined facades, in addition
to ensuring adequate lighting to the interior areas, will allow
the use of facades with vertical glazing that are protected
from direct rain by the overhang of the overlying metallic
roof. Said glazing will have iltering and darkening curtains in
order to enhance the control of the natural light of the area.
The same applies to the back part of the building, where
greater luminosity of the interior areas will be ensured,
while avoiding the use of inclined glazing. The new roof will
be ventilated and feature a metallic coat with zinc-titanium
inish; it will be supported by a light structure in galvanized
steel that is anchored to the existing structure in reinforced
concrete.
The current glazing will be entirely dismantled. The blind
parts of the current facade, after the removal of its stone
cladding, will be entirely waterproofed and insulated
by means of an insulating cellular glass layer. The
modiications to the existing structure will be limited to the
elimination of some interior loors in order to enhance the
access levels to the theater’s stalls, and to the elimination
of two trestles on the inclined facade from the side of the
entrance in order to create a building that is more open
towards the outside. The sphere containing the new theater
will be built using a spatial steel bearing structure, which
will support insulating layers made of plaster slabs coated
with sound-absorbing material whose characteristics will
guarantee perfect sound-prooing between the auditorium
and the surrounding environment.
The use of the steel structure and the light-weight partitions
in the sphere will ensure the creation of an important
architectural feature with maximum lightness, costeffectiveness
and speed of execution. The internal inishing
and the electrical, mechanical, water-sanitary, and ireprevention
industrial systems, will be entirely renewed.
The theater’s auditorium, as will be explained in greater
detail in the acoustical report, will be inished using
materials capable of ensuring the best acoustical
performance without excessive technicalities and with
relatively affordable inishing and installation costs, in line
with budgetary objectives.
The auditorium structure presents a simple but extremely
characteristic geometry, and the inishing proposed, a
“Topakustic” MDF acoustic liner for the walls and a “Barrisol”
heat-stretched cover for the ceilings and lighting elements,
will enhance the auditorium’s acoustical performance, while
providing the proper balance between sound-absorbing
and sound-relecting surface areas. The auditorium will
therefore have a luminous and modern architecture, without
any complicated and expensive additional elements.
The loors will be inished using parquet with highly resistant
wood planks, and the upholstered chairs will ensure
the stability of the auditorium’s acoustical performance
regardless of the number of spectators.
In the coniguration with a central stage or an orchestra/
chorus located at the back of the scene, some retractable
acoustical panels will allow the acoustical property of the
back wall to be easily changed, making it either absorbent
or relective, in such a way as to enhance the acoustical
performance of this area whether it is used for speaking
or for music.
The space of the Visual Arts Center surrounding the theater
will be characterized from an architectural viewpoint by the
external surfaces of the sphere that contains the theater,
which will be visible from every point of the interior, and,
by means of the glazing cut into the structure, also from
outside of the building, in particular during evening hours
when the theater will be in the maximum of activity.
The sphere will then be inished, outside of the theater, with
a colored “OIKOS” paste treatment applied with a spatula,
giving the surface a translucent pearl grey tone on which
plays of light and projections can be made that allow the
artistic and creative nature of the new Center to be best
expressed, both with regard to Visual Arts and to the
theatrical activity.
The display areas of the new Visual Arts Center will,
moreover, be minimalist and aimed at maximum ease of
management, maintenance, and lexible organization of the
space. Great care will be taken for the creation of a lexible
and eficient lighting system.
The space that will be developed around the central sphere
will have “neutral” looring in highly resistant porcelain grès,
and a mobile paneling capable of organizing and subdividing
the space according to diverse display needs.
In any event, the building’s internal and external materials
will be chosen from among those capable of guaranteeing
the best balance of cost-effectiveness, durability and ease
of maintenance, in view of making the most of the project
while meeting budgetary requirements.
With respect to plant engineering, the building will be
completely renewed, with particular attention paid to proper
space layout and energy eficiency.
With regard to the exterior cladding, great care will be
taken in terms of insulation and protection from direct solar
radiation both of the glazed parts and of the rooing.
The rooing, as already noted, will be characterized by a
new insulating and water-proof layer and will be ventilated
to improve the building’s thermal protection.
The air conditioning system will be carefully designed in
order to reduce power consumption. In this perspective,
in addition to heat recovery systems and inverters for the
optimal functioning of the heating and cooling systems, gas
systems for cold production might be used which, although
moderately increasing initial costs, will signiicantly cut the
building’s electrical consumption. Much attention will be
paid to the possibility of enhancing the natural ventilation of
the areas using appropriate design features.
Regarding renewable energies, in addition to the costeffective
installation of solar systems for the production of
sanitary hot water, we believe that the building’s structure
and its roofs make it possible to envision also the use of
photovoltaic systems for production of electricity, especially if
this highly environmentally friendly solution can be supported
by any additional inancing, which could lower the high initial
investments.
The electrical systems will be characterized by a broad use
of highly eficient and reduced consumption lighting, and by
the installation of control systems capable of ensuring proper
use that is strictly functional to the various needs, thus limiting
unnecessary consumption (for example proximity sensors in
service areas, centralized management of the common parts’
lighting systems, etc.). Furthermore, the project provides for a
recycling plant for rainwater and, if possible, for greywater, in
order to reill the ire-safety tanks and meet the requirements
of the green areas watering system.
LIGHT PROJECTION
The external illumination must take into consideration the
double connotation of the architectural subject created by
both: the project ‘signs’ which mark out the existing structure,
which is therefore exploited by the metal sails which will be
illuminated with narrow beam projectors equipped with cold
light metal iodide sources, which should characterise the
above elements with a light that skims as much as possible;
and by the central semi-spherical volume characteristic of the
new design intervention, which will include the theatre itself.
The latter is characterised by back lighting from the satin
inish glass calotte, through the use of a series of loor level
projectors (with metal iodide sources). According to need,
these projectors can illuminate the glass panel with white light
or with coloured light through appropriate ilters, almost like
a lantern that seeks to attract the passerby’s attention during
night shows.
The theatre hall is located in the centre of the complex and is
planned as follows: a series of false-ceilings in opaque white
heat-stretched polymer will create slightly curved sail- shaped
surfaces, which will imitate the curve of the ceiling above.
They will be back lit by an RGB system composed of linear
luorescent sources, which can invent an unlimited series of
‘luminous conigurations’ of the theatre. Furthermore, some
cloud- shaped elements will be hung under them, made from
the diffusing polymer material which hides the lamps but allows
the light to pass through. These elements will, on one side,
form a kind of support for the hidden luorescent sources, and
on the other side provide a kind of relecting screen on which
some projectors hidden in the theatre pit will be beamed: both
cases will guarantee indirect illumination of the hall. A blue
LED step marker will signal the stair rising.
On the ground loor, lighting required for the show halls
will be provided by a system of radically hung and located
three-phase rails. Professional spotlights will be installed on
the rails, equipped with high performance, individually light
adjusting sources. They are perfectly suitable for museum/
exhibition type illumination. The connecting rooms between
the halls, at the glass panelled vertical doors, will also be
equipped with electriied rails. However, they will carry
reglette at the top to provide indirect, adjustable light. The
two hall zones, accommodating the library and foyer, will be
lighted by suspended appliances with metal iodide sources,
with a transparent prismaticised relector, partially diffusing
light upwards too. Appliances of the latter family will also be
installed in the restaurant-bar zone, but will have a translucent
relector which makes it possible to see the lamp only when it
is lighted (turned on). The foyer will also be equipped with two
rows of loor- embedded uplights, with metal iodides, which
will clearly mark out the metal inish of the internal lining of
the covering.
The ticket ofices will have suspended frames equipped with
an anti-dazzle direct component. Transitory zones by the
external glass panelling: improved performance downlights
will be embedded in the ceiling, equipped with compact highly
eficient luorescent sources. In common with the nearby rails
and those on the ground loor, they will be radially laid out
to respect the geometry of the halls/rooms. The rail system
gives us many different advantages ranging from simple
power supply (head only), to the adjustment of spot lights
for groups by means of 3-phase voltage control, to lexible
positioning and aiming of the lights along the rail, to the
excellent architectural integration obtained by using a radial
layout.
Lastly, general management of lights will make it possible
to control and manage in a simple way each action of
switching on and the adjustments of both internal and external
appliances. For example, this facility will enable timed switchons
of only some or all the pre-conigured groups during
certain situations or happenings, and selecting pre-planned
stage sets which are suitable for different uses of the same
place at different times (use, cleaning, event, conference…)
or simply switching-on and adjusting the regular low of light
of the illuminating elements for some rails only, for one loor -
e.g. the exhibition loor.
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